Review: The Beautiful and the Cursed and The Lovely and the Lost by Page Morgan

June 1, 2014 3 stars, Book Review, Young Adult 19 ★★★

Review: The Beautiful and the Cursed and The Lovely and the Lost by Page MorganThe Beautiful and the Cursed, The Lovely and the Lost by Page Morgan
Series: The Dispossessed #1 - #2
Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers Genres: Fantasy, Gothic, Young Adult
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher, Purchased
Goodreads

After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house Ingrid’s twin brother, Grayson, found for them isn’t a house at all. It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.

And Grayson has gone missing.

No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.

Ingrid is sure her twin isn’t dead—she can feel it deep in her soul—but she knows he’s in grave danger. It will be up to her and Gabby to navigate the twisted path to Grayson, a path that will lead Ingrid on a discovery of dark secrets and otherworldly truths. And she’ll learn that once they are uncovered, they can never again be buried.

three-stars

This review is actually for both the first and second book in this series!
disposessed series

World building at it’s finest:

These two book are part of the Dispossessed series. Page Morgan brings to life a late 1800’s world in which Gargoyles are cursed humans who have a dark past and are enslaved by the Angelic order to forever (or until they are destroyed) protect their human charges, which are whatever humans happen to be inhabiting the property on which their gargoyle statue sits. Pretty interesting setup, now lets add in that there is a demon underworld called the Underneath with vents to the human world where demons can crossover, it is these demons that the gargoyles were created to protect their humans from. Just to add to it all there is a secret society of humans also fighting to protect the human realm from demons called the Alliance.  So, it seems the scene is set, and this is actually where I am going to leave it, as to give more background info would be to give away part of the plot of the first book.

A mysterious adventure story with a predictable love triangle:

The Beautiful and the Cursed follows an English family to France where their mother hopes to open an art gallery. The mother’s son Grayson is sent to France first to procure a site for the art gallery. He chooses and old abandoned abbey and sends for the rest of the family. This is where the story starts, the two sisters Ingrid (Grayson’s twin) and Gabby and the mother arrive to the news that Grayson is missing and the search is on. When Ingrid catches site of one of the gargoyles on the roof of the abbey moving she thinks her nerves maybe getting the better of her. When she is attacked by a hell hound she learns that the abbey is one of the protected sites and Luc the gargoyle posted at the abbey is as handsome in human form as he is grotesque in his stone skin. Ingrid is fascinated by his transformation, but anything beyond fascination is condemned by the Angelic order. Will Ingrid’s fascination turn into forbidden love? Is this a young adult novel or isn’t it? Of course it does, and wouldn’t you know it, Luc loves her too. Luc isn’t the only one though, another gentleman that fights demons as part of the Alliance is not only a human but a dashing one at that. Ingrid is torn between a forbidden love and an infatuation, which will she choose? I’ll let you guess. Will Ingrid and Gabby find their brother, and if they do will he still be human?

The plot thickens but I can’t tell you that part:

The Lovely and the Lost continues the story in the world the author has crafted, there is more adventure, danger and self discovery by all of the characters. The book also follows the Ingrid love triangle as well as Gabby’s love interest, I can’t say more or I will spoil the plot, what part of it that isn’t predictable anyhow. Both books are well written and I enjoyed the world building immensely. Page Morgan took a lot of time setting up the rules of the worlds and how the Angels, Demons, Humans, and Gargoyles interact. The characters will likely leave you wanting to scream, but they are witty and amusing. To me the series reads much like many young adult books in which although there is adventure and danger there is a large emphasis on the love story. In this regard the series is completely predictable and I found it infuriating. I have read and watched all of the Twilight Saga and will even admit to enjoying much of it, however when it comes down to the silly love triangles I quickly get frustrated. I must admit however that the frustration more stems at the fact that this story is pushed on teen girls all the time and it’s not a healthy story at all. If I had a teenage daughter I would have to have some major discussions about just how ridiculous these love stories are, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Let me hop off my soap box and say, if you enjoyed twilight and like the idea of gargoyles and demons then this series is probably something you will enjoy, double bonus points if you love the late 1800’s time period as much as I do.

The low down:

Would I recommend this series to all of my friends, NO. To my Twilight fan friends, oh yeah! To anyone that is into the late 1800-early 1900’s time period and the supernatural fantasy, certainly. If you fit into this category you’ll definitely enjoy the books, maybe even love them. Will I read the next book in the series? You bet I will, I’ll be annoyed as ever by it too.

Tina

Tina

Gamer girl extraordinaire, law student, mother of twin boys and one lil girl. I can often be found taking care of my family, working on home renovation projects, reading, gaming, and all the while text warring with Tabitha.
Tina

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19 Responses to “Review: The Beautiful and the Cursed and The Lovely and the Lost by Page Morgan”

    • Tina

      I am not a huge twilight fan, I will admit however to going to see ALL of the movies opening night, standing in line and the whole bit. It was an amazing experience to go with a group of friends, I have done the same thing with a bunch of books gone movie. (Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit) So, that being said this book series wasn’t terribly painful for me, but it was predictable, and slightly annoying at times. Unless you are really into the time period or gargoyles I’d spend the time reading something else 🙂
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  3. Aimee @ Deadly Darlings

    I’m not a huge fan of Twilight, but I did manage to enjoy the movies. I’m pretty curious about the gargoyles, though. For now this one’ll be tentative on my TBR. Great review, Tina!
    Aimee @ Deadly Darlings recently posted…Monthly Summary: MayMy Profile

    • Daenielle

      I should say “is better than Twilight” because of its diversity.

    • Tina

      The twilight story line trumps this one for me, but the writing it’s self trumps twilight for me, so I see your concept and I hope that this one for you is in fact better then twilight!
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  6. Kirsty-Marie

    See, I had originally wanted to read the first book when it came out because of the Gargoyle thing, I’ve read a few with them in it, but not centred around it, but then I saw the reviews coming in and about the romance and ach no. I do sometimes like love triangles, depending on the characters, but instalove nope. And really, when anything says “for fans of Twilight” I lose interest. Not bashing it or anything since I have read them and enjoyed it when I was 14, but now? I wouldn’t. At least you gave it a three! 🙂
    Kirsty-Marie recently posted…Review: Say Her NameMy Profile

    • Tina

      It was a nice story and reasonably well written, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to someone, but on the flip side I would say “NO DON’T READ THAT!!!” either. Especially to those of my friends that like a good woe is me tragic romance. These things just frustrate me.
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  9. Kel

    It sounds like way too much romance for me. (Really? A love triangle AND forbidden love?) But I’m still kind of tempted because the idea reminds me of the old Disney cartoon. ^^;
    Kel recently posted…Updates: Jumping into JuneMy Profile

    • Tina

      I remember watching that show! I can see where it would remind you of that. There is a lot of silly romance in the first book for sure, the second one is a bit more balanced to me.
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